Narrative and Experience in Multicultural Education

"Narrative and Experience in Multicultural Education provides compelling stories that raise questions, advance understandings, and promote insight into the challenges and hopes of teaching for diversity and democracy. The works contained are compelling for the stories they tell and, as such, there is value in their presence. That the thoughtful reader can glean important lessons with respect to multicultural education and the value of narrative inquiry as academic disciplines is intellectual ′icing-on-the-cake.′" —Francisco Rios, University of Wyoming "This work is a very exciting, important, and badly needed piece of scholarship offered by some of the most leading-edge professors in the field. The diversity and diverse viewpoints it presents are unparalleled in the field of education." —Cheryl J. Craig, University of Houston "The narratives in this book allow readers to put a human face to an issue related to multicultural education.  A reflective reader will begin to see himself/herself in the narratives of the text." —Edmundo F. Litton, Loyola Marymount University "The inclusion of chapters that deal with classroom realities elevate the text for education teacher candidates above those existing volumes that tend to deal with multi/inter-cultural issues in the abstract. One of the strengths of this volume is that it will resonate with new and experienced classroom practitioners." —Jon G. Bradley, McGill University Narrative and Experience in Multicultural Education explores the untapped potential that narrative and experiential approaches have for understanding multicultural issues in education. The research featured in the book reflects an exciting new way of thinking about human experience. The studies focus on the lives of students, teachers, parents, and communities, highlighting experiences seldom discussed in the literature. The authors are diverse and their inquiries are far ranging in terms of content, ethnic groups studied, and geographic locations. They also bring their personal experience to the inquiries, actively participate in the lives of the people with whom they work, care deeply about the concerns of their participants, and search for ways to act upon these concerns. Most importantly, the work emphasizes the understanding of experience and transforming this understanding into social and educational significance. Key Features • Addresses new ways to explore multicultural issues in education; rather than relying on theoretical generalizations, the book focuses explicitly on individual and group experiences • Emphasizes the transformation of experience into education, especially through the study of complex multicultural issues • Challenges readers′ assumptions of multicultural issues by offering numerous narrative accounts and research studies for work with various ethnic groups Narrative and Experience in Multicultural Education is designed for use in courses in multicultural education and qualitative research, especially in departments of education, anthropology, and sociology. Professional educators, researchers, and consultants will also find this a valuable introduction to narrative research and a welcome addition to the literature.

Table of Contents:
Preface - JoAnn Phillion, Ming Fang He and F. Michael Connelly Chapter 1: The Potential of Narrative and Experiential Approaches in Multicultural Inquiries - JoAnn Phillion, Ming Fang He and F. Michael Connelly Unit One: Personal Narrative, Community Narrative and the African American Experience Chapter 2: Examining School-Community Connections Through Stories - Saundra Murray Nettles Chapter 3: Black Women Writing Autobiography: Autobiography in Multicultural Education - Meta Y. Harris Unit Two: Latina/Latino Communities, Families, and Children Chapter 4: Being Educated in the Absence of Multiculturalism - Alma Rubal-Lopez and Angela Anselmo Chapter 5: Between the Telling and the Told: Latina Mothers Negotiate Education in New Borderlands - Sofia A. Villenas Unit Three: Social Justice, Equality and the Education of Native Americans Chapter 6: White Teachers, Native Students: Rethinking Culture-Based Education - Mary Hermes Chapter 7: Journey Toward Social Justice: Curriculum Change and Educational Equity in a Navajo Community - Donna Deyhle Unit Four: Multicultural Teacher Education in International Contexts Chapter 8: Teachers as Transformative Healers: Struggles With the Complexities of the Democratic Sphere - Lourdes Diaz Soto Chapter 9: How is Education Possible When There′s a Body in the Middle of the Room? - Freema Elbaz-Luwisch Chapter 10: Multicultural Perspectives in Teacher Development - Grace Feuerverger Unit Five: Narrative Inquiry in Multicultural Education Chapter 11: The World in My Text: A Quest for Pluralism - Carola Conle Chapter 12: The Art of Narrative Inquiry: Embracing Emotion and Seeing Transformation - Chris Liska Carger Unit Six: Democracy, School Life, and Community in Multicultural Societies Chapter 13: Narrative Inquiry Into Multicultural Life in an Inner-City Community School - F. Michael Connelly, JoAnn Phillion, and Ming Fang He Chapter 14: Creating Communities of Cultural Imagination: Negotiating a Curriculum of Diversity - Janice Huber, M. Shaun Murphy, and D. Jean Clandinin Chapter 15: Narrative and Experiential Approaches to Multiculturalism in Education: Democracy and Education - Ming Fang He, JoAnn Phillion, and F. Michael Connelly Index About the Editors About the Contributors

About the Author :
JoAnn Phillion is Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Purdue University. She received her Ph.D. from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto at the Centre for Teacher Development with Michael Connelly. She was awarded the AERA Division B Outstanding Dissertation Award in 2000. She is past Chair of Division B Equity Committee and member of AERA Affirmative Action Council. She is Editor of Curriculum Inquiry. Her research interests are in narrative approaches to multiculturalism, teacher knowledge, and teacher education. She teaches graduate courses in curriculum theory and multicultural education, and an undergraduate course in pre-service teacher development. She is involved in international teacher development in Hong Kong and Honduras. She published Narrative Inquiry in a Multicultural Landscape: Multicultural Teaching and Learning with Ablex Publications in 2002. Ming Fang He is an Associate Professor of Curriculum Studies at Georgia Southern University.  She received her Ph.D. from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto at the Centre for Teacher Development with Michael Connelly. She taught English as a Foreign Language in P. R. China and English as a Second Language to immigrant adults and children in Toronto, Canada.  She currently advises doctoral students, directs doctoral dissertations, and teaches graduate courses in curriculum studies, multicultural education, and qualitative research methods.  Her preservice teacher education courses are in foundations of education.  She has also taught doctoral level courses in Hong Kong, and currently advises doctoral students and serves on dissertation committees, for the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education cohort-based doctoral program for Hong Kong Institute of Education faculty members.  Her work is on cross-cultural narrative inquiry of language, culture, and identity in multicultural contexts, cross-cultural teacher education and curriculum studies.  Her book, A River Forever Flowing:  Cross-Cultural Lives and Identities in the Multicultural Landscape, is published with Information Age Publishing.  She is Professor of Curriculum, an editor of Curriculum Inquiry, and an associate editor of Multicultural Perspectives. F. Michael Connelly is Professor Emeritus, and formerly Director, Centre for Teacher Development,  and Chair, Department of Curriculum, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto (OISE/UT). He is Director of a Hong Kong Institute of Education/OISE/UT Doctoral Program, and a founder and editor of Curriculum Inquiry.  Professor Connelly was the recipient of the 1987 Outstanding Canadian Curriculum Scholar Award of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, the 1991 Canadian Education Association Whitworth Award for Educational Research, the 1995 Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations Outstanding Teaching Award, and the 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award in Curriculum Studies from the American Educational Research Association.   He has written widely, with his collaborator Jean Clandinin, in science education, teaching and teacher knowledge, curriculum and narrative inquiry.

Review :
This book, by prominent scholars in the field of multicultural education and narrative inquiry, provides compelling stories that raise questions, advance understandings, and promote insight into the challenges and hopes of teaching for diversity and democracy. The works contained herein are compelling for the stories they tell and, as such, there is value in their presence. That the thoughtful reader can glean important lessons with respect to multicultural education and the value of narrative inquiry as academic disciplines is intellectual ‘icing-on-the-cake.’ New researchers in the likes of Phillion, He, and Connelly bring a fresh and positively skewed perspective to bear. This is a wonderful combination. The writing is solid and the research grounded. The inclusion of chapters that deal with classroom realities elevate the text for education teacher candidates above those existing volumes that tend to deal with multi/inter-cultural issues in the abstract. One of the strengths of this volume is that it will resonate with new and experienced classroom practitioners. The work is a very exciting, important and badly needed piece of scholarship offered by some of the most leading-edge professors in the field. The diversity and diverse viewpoints it would present is unparalleled in the field of education. The content certainly provided me with material to reflect on in relation to the experience of teaching in a multicultural situation. I would describe it as a powerful experience and certainly memorable material. The authors do a fine job of pulling together disparate elements, retrieving story, and providing a font for an exposition of what has been referred to as ‘dangerous memory.’ I found myself very much caught up in the authors’ experiences, as well as their reflections on the meaning of those experiences. The narratives in this book allow readers to put a human face to an issue related to multicultural education.  The authors embrace the reader and a reflective reader will begin to see himself/herself in the narratives of the text.